Mater
by T.J.Lexx
Summary: A mysterious stranger arrives in Beacon Hills and brings the pack to their knees. Can they really trust anything she says? Derek/ O.C.
1. Chapter 1

Lyla sat in the comfy revolving chair and put her legs up on the table. She had been pleasantly surprised to see that this pack's den wasn't a pig-sty. Werewolves weren't always the most tidy and she knew this pack was full of guys anyway. She sat directly opposite the huge door and scanned the room. She could totally see a group of guys hanging out here. The loft was big but barely furnished, there were two chairs, one sofa and a huge table right in front of a glass window that took up almost the entire wall. In her informant had been correct, all she had to do now was wait until either Derek Hale, Scott McCall, Isaac or Peter Hale came through that door. And hope they listened to her, for all their sakes.

Peter Hale surpressed the urge to turn around rip Isaac and Scott's throats out just so he didn't have to hear their irritatingly mundane adolescent voices anymore. In any case, he would have to reach past his nephew to do it and Derek would relish any opportunity to rip his arm off. The four of them were on their way to the loft to decide how to tackle this new pack of alphas in town. On the climb up the stairs, Peter was the first, only because none of the guys wanted him at their back. He knew they didn't trust him but he didn't care. So long as they did what they were supposed to when they were supposed to.

When he pulled open the loft door and saw the girl, he should have automatically gone on the defensive. His hackles fell though when he realized she wasn't moving and that she had actually raised her hands in an "I surrender" type of motion. He tentatively stepped into the room, keeping as close to the door as he could while still letting the others through. As soon as Peter had seen her, he had felt something. A feeling he really didn't know how to describe. But he did know that the last time he had felt like that was before the fire, before he had lost his family and half his face.

As the guys came into the room and their eyes all turned to amber at the sight of her, the girl seemed to realize she was a perceived threat. That was when she got up, came to the side of the table and spoke in a calm, soft tone.

"I am not your enemy. I am not from Deucalion's pack nor am I the one apparently killing virgins. So weird. I am here on behalf of my own pack. They will be passing through here soon and I need to know if that will be a problem."

She looked at Derek for the majority of that little speech. My nephew being alpha over me still annoyed me but everything had its time and now was not it. No one spoke for a while. That was when I looked over at my colleages. Both Derek and Isaac had starstruck looks on their faces, like they had never seen a woman before. Scott just had a dumber expression on his face than usual. As embarrassed as I was by this display of male idiocy, I completely understood why they looked like that.

She wore black suede boots over dark blue jeans and a plain black baby tee. The outfit was simple but it displayed everything perfectly. Peter had never been one for thicker females but for her, he would make an exception. The jeans showed off her wide hips and round ass to perfection. The black shirt hugged her slender midsection and drew the eye to her not-too-big, not-too-small breasts. She didn't have a face you would call gorgeous but it was definitely one you could look at forever. Her lips were full, her brown eyes twinkled and her ebony hair tumbled off her head past rounded cheeks that looked made for smiling. Although Peter could think of a few other things they could have been made for.

Just then, Derek shook himself out of his reverie long enough to ask, "So who are you, how do you know us and why is your pack coming through here?"

She smiled at him and said, "My name is Lyla and I don't why why we're coming here. The Alpha makes decisions, we just follow. We aren't going to kill anyone or turn anyone or out any of you. We just wanted everything to be above board. As to how I know who you are, Derek, I have good informants. "

Peter was sure this girl was telling the truth and that she was completely worthy of trust. This girl was…hold on. Peter didn't trust anyone. Where did that come from? Scott and Isaac had somehow crossed the room and were almost touching this girl now, both looking like she was the best thing since sliced bread. Even Derek, who trusted even less people than he did, was now smiling back at this girl. Peter was disgusted. It was a sheepish, kind of shy smile. Not one he had ever seen on his nephew's face before nor one he ever wanted to see again. He looked back at Scott and Isaac and nearly rolled his eyes in disbelief.

Scott was behind the girl, nuzzling her neck and playing with her hair. Isaac had almost fully shifted to wolf form and was on his knees next to her with his face pressed into her thigh and his arms wrapped around her waist. The more disturbing part was that this Lyla girl took it all in stride, as if stuff like this happened to her all the time. She was actually stroking Isaac's head like how one would a pet, while Scott played with her fingers.

Peter wondered if he was the only one in the room a little disturbed at their behavior. At least now Derek wasn't smiling anymore. He was glaring at the betas like he would rip them apart right there. He opened his mouth to tell them to stop but Lyla put a hand up and paused him.

"I don't mind it," she said, "I will be back at the same time tomorrow to hear what you have to say."

Again, she looked directly at Derek. I thought at first she was addressing him only as Alpha but now I saw something else. A flicker of interest, maybe. She disengaged herself gently from Isaac and Scott, with difficulty. They did not want to let her go at all. Peter could hear her whispering to them, "I'll be back tomorrow. Don't worry. I'm coming back." It seemed it was only this assurance that made them release her. They watched her leave with longing gazes. Peter half-expected one of them to howl morosely. As soon as she left, that feeling Peter had when he entered the room disappeared. Now he could place it. It had been warmth, peace, tranquility or at least more of it than he had felt in a long time, and much less anger.

It was almost as if a trance had been lifted. Isaac and Scott looked dumbfounded and Derek just looked confused. Peter spoke first.

"Can any of you tell me exactly what in the hell made you act like lovesick puppies in front of a total stranger?" He poured as much superciliousness as he could into the question. He did not want them to know that he had felt the same way. As an older werewolf, he was just a little better at suppressing some urges.

It was Scott who quickly said, "No, it wasn't like that. It…I didn't feel that way about her, It was more like…"

He wavered off then continued haltingly. "You know like when you're 5 and you run into your mom's room because a thunderstorm scares you? It's like nothing can get to you because your mom's there and your mom can protect you from anything. You're safe and happy, cuddled up with your mom. It was like that feeling but way stronger."

Isaac chipped in, "Yeah, that was exactly it but I still don't know why I was all over her like that. It was so bizarre. Like I couldn't stop myself. Like I didn't want to stop myself. Almost like when I couldn't stop myself from shifting on a full moon.

It should have been strange to hear someone describe such a feeling for a complete and potentially dangerous stranger but since Peter had felt the same, he wasn't really surprised. Peter realized Derek was conspicuously silent on the issue. He had no doubt that Derek had felt the warm, cuddly feeling they all had but there was something he wasn't saying.

"If we're quite through discussing you two's mommy issues, I don't suppose either of you got her scent while you were all over her." Peter had noticed something odd about her scent.

Isaac had not gotten it and neither had Scott but Scott said, "I just remember that she smelled wrong, like not like a regular wolf."

For the first time in minutes, Derek contributed, "That's because she smelled like two."

We all looked at him. What could he possibly mean, like two? Derek stared at the floor and continued, "I could smell her, yeah but her actual scent was kind of…obscured, like it was underneath another one. The other one, the stronger one, was definitely wolf."

Peter tentatively asked, "How is that even possible?"

Derek shook his head, then abruptly asked, "What do you guys think about her proposal for her pack? Should we listen?"

The answers were incomprehensible because they all responded quickly and simultaneously but amidst the cacophony, Derek heard that they all felt she was being straight with them and that they should hear her out tomorrow. Although he felt the same way, he was a little uneasy about letting her back in with the strange effect she seemed to have them. But he felt so strongly that she would never hurt them. Not her.

Lyla walked down the street and remembered her meeting with the pack of Beacon Hills. She smiled. Scott and Isaac were too cute and sweet, especially Isaac. She had heard enough about Peter Hale to be glad he was nowhere near her. And Derek Hale, ooooohhh Derek Hale, was so much cuter than she had expected. She blushed to recall how she stared at him from the time he entered the room until the time she left. She couldn't help in though. Those eyes of his were so captivating. That body wasn't bad either. No. She mentally shook herself. She couldn't think that way about anyone, not anymore. Back to reviewing. She hadn't known the boys would be so susceptible to her charms but it couldn't hurt. She felt hopeful now that her part would go smoothly. This was the best she could do for Beacon Hills. Only God knew what Dominic was really up to.


	2. Chapter 2

When Lyla arrived at the loft the next day, only Derek was there. He was sitting on the table. 'Geez,' she thought, 'I would have liked a little interference.' She broke into a huge smile and mentally kicked herself. This guy did not need to see her grinning like a Cheshire cat.

" I was looking forward to seeing the boys today. Such a pity." She said.

Derek still hadn't looked at her. "Given the way they behaved yesterday, I thought this would be better."

Lyla slowly walked toward Derek. "I get that often. I really didn't mind. Maybe I even liked it a little." She chided.

Derek groaned, "Don't encourage them. Anyway, we need to talk about your pack. I don't know how much you know but a lot of stuff is happening in Beacon Hills right now. Dangerous stuff. You and your pack need to go somewhere else. I mean, we won't stop you, and if you don't harm anyone, no problem but it would just be better if you didn't come here."

Lyla lifted her chin, "We're a big pack. We can take care of ourselves."

"I just wouldn't want to see anything happen to you."

Derek spoke those words with such tenderness it threw Lyla off. That wasn't how you talk to someone you just met yesterday.

Derek then cleared his throat, straightened himself and continued, "because then your pack would probably want revenge and that would start a whole werewolf war and I have enough things to worry about."

Derek got up and walked around behind the table. He was a bit too close to her. He could fight what she made him feel but he needed to keep his distance. He hadn't said anything yesterday about her effect on him because he felt differently. He did feel that warm cuddly feeling but along with that, there was an insane attraction there. It even felt stronger today than it had yesterday. He had realized when Scott and Isaac were hanging all over her that he was totally jealous. Either he should be all over her or no one should be. With feelings like this for a stranger so unnaturally strong, he now knew for a fact that there was more to her than met the eye.

Derek was actually pretty proud of himself. He was acting pretty normally with her. Then she touched his shoulder and said, "To show good faith, I'm willing- "

He never found out what she was willing to do. That one touch on the shoulder stripped away any self-restraint Derek had. In one fluid motion, He reached across the table, grabbed Lyla around the waist and pushed her down onto the table. He pinned her down with his own body and pressed his lips hard down on hers. Her back arched upward as her body tried to get closer to his. The smell of him was making her heady. Her hands found their way under his shirt and explored his rock-hard muscles, while his hands explored her chest and thighs. As she locked her legs around his waist, his hand squeezed her thigh and moved upward to caress her tight ass. His other hand palmed and massaged her breast under her shirt. His lips were still punishing hers when she felt his fangs come out. She felt her shirt stretch. He was gonna rip it off.

Just then, Lyla felt that tingling burn on her back and jumped. Derek stopped and looked at her. Avoiding his gaze, she pushed him off, got up and fixed herself. The burning on her back had snapped her out of it. Maybe he didn't know. Maybe she had stopped in time.

Derek was confused. He could tell she had been into it. Had he done something wrong? Before he could speak she was hightailing it out of the loft. Just as shee yanked open the door, she saw Peter on the other side. He looked at her in that creepy, penetrating way he did as she slipped past him and left.

Lyla tried to forget what had just happened with Derek. It would do neither of them any good. It might actually get them killed. She made her way to the woods and from there to the field at Beacon Hills High. Just as she had hoped, there was lacrosse practice. She sat on the ground on the far side of the field and watched.

She saw Scott, or at least who she thought was Scott, score a goal when there were five people between him and the goal net. She saw Isaac, tackle and bring down two guys, both bigger than him. She was enjoying watching the boys when she saw a lone figure in lacrosse gear off to a side on the bench, watching like her. Scott would often go over to this non-player. She deduced that this had to be the best friend, Stiles or something. He however seemed to be more interested in a conversation between a redhead and a brunette who were walking between the bleachers.

She got up and walked over, on the edge of the field so as to draw less attention and saw down in the bleachers right behind him. From this vantage point, she could see that it was the redhead and not the conversation that was drawing his attention. She sighed softly. This Stiles boy was cute but she could tell that girl would not give him the time of day. The redhead was that type, the type Lyla couldn't stand when she had been in high school and had kinda wanted to be then too.

Seemed Lyla hadn't been careful enough. Isaac and Scott cam and sat on either side of her. Practise was over then. They weren't nearly as amorous as they had been yesterday but they were still sandwiching her between them. Lyla held in a laugh as the four of them conversed. They were trying to be cool on front of their friends. Then Stiles asked how she knew them.

"I'm from a visiting pack and I kind of just…dropped in," she said and laughed. "We only met yesterday."

Stiles raised and eyebrow. "Really? You guys act like you've known each other forever."

This one was intuitive. I liked that. But I could be intuitive too. I beckoned Stiles a little closer and leaned down.

"Speaking of forever, might that be how long you've been into the redhead?"

After shooting a glare at Scott, he mumbled, "Strawberry blonde," and dropped his gaze.

Scott went over to the brunette and the redhead and struck up conversation. Lyla noticed his eyes never left the brunette. She giggled and tipped a finger under Stiles's chin, forcing his gaze back up to hers. She spoke then, and with every word, leaned further forward.

"You know, the best way to get a girl's attention…is not to give her any."

Lyla kissed Stiles gently on the poor boy was so surprised he gasped. She took advantage and slipped her tongue inside his mouth. Not too much though. Just enough that the redhead would see how deep it was. She lightly teased his tongue with her own before she pulled back. Lyla looked out of the corner of her eye and made sure that the redhead had seen. She, Scott and the brunette were staring at them with their mouths open.

Her lips were still almost touching Stiles'. She whispered to him while making a show of caressing his cheek and neck and running her hand through his hair.

"She saw," Lyla said and smiled.

It seemed to take a while for Stiles to get it but then she saw understanding dawn on his face. He leveled those adorable puppy eyes at her and breathed, "Marry me."

Lyla laughed so hard, Isaac had to steady her. She realized Isaac didn't seem too happy about the kiss but he had now worries, he was still her favourite. Her work here was done. She had observed the boys in her natural habitat and infiltrated Stiles. He might not have been a wolf but she knew he was important in the scheme of things. Plus, she really had wanted to help him out there.

Isaac and she then got up and made there way slowly back across the field to the forest. She could feel him nipping at her fingers once ever so often. Eventually she just held his hand. As they walked, they talked about Deucalion and the recent murders.

"I don't know about those victims really. It was Stiles who worked out that they were virgin sacrifices. As for Deucalion, I don't know what he wants either but we've had enough run-ins with his people to know its nothing good." Isaac said.

Before I could knew what was what, I heard telling him, "Deucalion is dangerous. My Alpha seems to have some kind of history with him and/or his pack and he…let's just saw dislike isn't a strong enough word to describe it. If they meet here, it won't be pretty."

Isaac stopped walking, tightened his hold on her hand and turned to face her. "Is that the real reason your pack is coming here? To settle an old score?"

"No! I would never let-I mean, my pack would not do that. Werewolf battles are too nasty and too bloody to bring it to such a populated area."

Isaac studied her for a moment. He had heard her heart hitch slightly but he didn't think she was lying. She was keeping something from them though. Just then she smiled at him, a smile bright and beautiful enough to make every star in the night sky go dim. She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, then walked away from him into the woods.

Isaac watched her go. He was just about to turn away when he saw a shadowy figure materialize in the woods. When he focused, he realized it was a pale man with dark hair, who was now directly in front of Lyla. She stopped abruptly when she saw in in front of her. He saw the man whip his hand across her face with a quickness even Isaac, with all his werewolf speed, envied. The two of them vanished before the crack had finished echoing.


	3. Chapter 3

Derek texted Isaac and Scott the next day, telling them to come to the loft. After doing some research, Peter believed he knew why Lyla had the effect on them that she did. Peter had told Derek last night and he was still reeling. He didn't want to believe what Peter was saying but he couldn't deny fact. Everytime he saw those warm brown eyes and remembered what happened on the table, hewould replay parts of the conversation in his head.

_"She was sent here on purpose to disarm us, can't you see that? We can't trust anything she says. She's too powerful."_

"_Ok. OK. She's lying and we can't trust her. The only thing we can do is tell her to tell her pack not to come through Beacon Hills. That's the only thing she asked for. She didn't try to get us to do anything else."_

_Peter rolled his eyes. "That's what I'm trying to tell you. She was sent here to throw us off, so we would let this pack into Beacon Hills. They obviously have some agenda they needed us out of the way to pursue and if they need us out of the way to pursue it…"_

_Derek finished for him, "It can't be good." He sighed. He was so tired of fighting werewolves. Semms that was all he had been doing since he returned to Beacon Hills._

"_So what are our chances?" he finally asked._

_Peter told him what he already knew. "Whoever was strong enough to make her what she is, and keep her, is way out of our league. ALL of our leagues. But at least we know now, Lyla is not an ally."_

Scott, Isaac and Stiles came bursting into the room just as Derek's memory faded. Isaac burst out, "Derek, about Lyla-"

"That's actually what I wanted to speak to you guys about," he looked at Stiles, then at Scott, "I'm waiting for the day you ask me to bite him. He obviously thinks he's a werewolf already, as often as he's here."

Before Stiles could issue some smart, annoying retort, Derek continued, "You guys should probably take a seat too."

He took and breath, then kept going, "You know how I was saying Lyla smelled weird? That she smelled like someone else on top of herself? Well, Peter did some digging and we think that smell was the smell of Lyla's mate. Now werewolves haven't been known to partake in lifemating for thousands of years, even back then, it wasn't that common. It would only be possible for a werewolf with an ancient and powerful lineage to take a lifemate today."

Isaac chipped in, "So she's someone's girlfriend?...That it?"

Derek hung his head and continued, "A lifemate was said to be the other half of your soul. It only took when there was the strongest of loves between the two werewolves and, as the name suggests, it was for life. That bond is stronger than anything even Deucalion and his entire pack of alphas could throw at us. Another thing, the smell on Lyla was pervading, like it almost completely covered her own scent. Only an Alpha's scent is that strong."

Scott chimed in, "So she's the mate of an Alpha. You haven't told us yet why she can turn me and Isaac into puppies."

Derek had to crack a smile despite the seriousness of the situation. "Back when werewolves first started to run, packs were usually predominantly composed of families. The head of the pack corresponded to the head of the family. So when the Alpha took a mate, she became the erstwhile mother to the whole pack."

"The Mater," Stiles murmured.

"Yup," said Derek, "Because she had a motherly role, Maters usually give off a, let's call it a vibe, to werewolves, making them more likely to trust her and want to be near her and please her. Male betas are especially susceptible. Had she been actually trying, we might all have dropped to our knees and started licking her feet. Happily."

After a pause, Isaac jumped up and said, "But she wasn't trying though. Doesn't that mean she was telling the truth."

"No, it means that her Alpha sent her here on purpose because he knew we wouldn't say no to her. Does that sound like a show of good faith to you?"

Isaac dropped his gaze from Derek's face. "So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that she came here to try to get one over on us. The best thing we can do is the excat opposite of what she wants. We need to find a way of telling her, without being anywhere near her, that we refuse her pack passage."

Stiles broke in in a confused voice, "But you said the Alpha was powerful. Wouldn't not giving him what he wants kind of piss him and bring him here anyway?"

Derek looked out the window, at the setting sun, focusing on the colours it suffused the sky with as it sank behind the horizon.

"Let me worry about that," he said slowly, "I have a feeling there are some things she won't want this Alpha to know, that I do."

He was so caught up in his own ruminations that he barely heard Isaac say, "I've gotta get going but I have her number, I 'll text her that Derek doesn't wanna play ball," before he rushed out the door.

The sound of the door slamming brought Derek out of his reverie.

"Did you guys have something to say before?" he asked.

Scott and Stiles glanced at each other before Scott replied, "Nothing important."

As Lyla stood under the bleachers and waited, she re-read Isaac's text.

We know what you are. Meet me on the field.

Just in case they planned to ambush her, she would wait here, where she had a view of her environs but was completely obscured. If it had been anyone but Isaac that had messaged her, she would have ran out of town like a bat out of hell. But Isaac, she felt something with him, something that made her sure he wouldn't be the one to rip her throat out.

At that moment, Lyla picked up a scent on the air. Alphas, at least 6 of them. Her blood ran cold. So many Alphas could only mean one thing: Deucalion. What was he doing here, now? She couldn't make a run for it, they were approaching from all sides. Just then, she saw a dark figure approaching from the woods. This one, she couldn't smell but she saws the light brown curly hair and the slight bounce in his walk. It was Isaac. Was it…did he…could it have been Isaac that planned the ambush? She saw him look around the field. He was looking for her. No, he was too lackadaisal. He didn't know what was happening.

Just then two blurs made for Isaac from either side of the field. He didn't see them until they were on him. With her wolf sight and hearing, she saw one figure put Isaac in a chokehold and the other lean over him and whisper menacingly, "Where is she?"

The one choking Isaac was huge and muscular. His hair was cut in a short, military style andhe held Isaac with ease. Lyla could see he could kill Isaac with ease too. The other one was slim, and wore shades. He was holding some kind of stick in his hand but it was blocked by his body.

Isaac grimaced as he replied, "Where is who?"

The slim one with the shades laughed, smacked his lips and said, "Alright." He leaned down, extended his claws and sank them slowly into Isaac's belly. "Let's try this again. WHERE IS SHE?"

Isaac screamed in pain, as the claws went ever deeper, soon to reach something important, which they would yank out of him, Lyla had no doubt. Lyla had to look away. She couldn't bear to see his pain. Sge almost covered her ears. His yowl of pain hit a chord in her, that resonated through her body. She felt her arms stretch and her legs bend. She could not let them torture that poor boy. She couldn't bear it. She was bounding out of the bleachers before the fangs even pricked her lip.

The pain in Isaac's stomach was so excruciating he involuntarily squeezed his eyes closed. So he didn't see the wolf in black suede boots barrel across the field, knock away the man about to rip out his intestines and scratch at the eyes of his captor. But he did hear the fearsome roar from some distance away. He had thought it was another Alpha come to finish him off.

He opened his eyes just in time to see a werewolf that dressed an awful lot like Lyla pull his hand around her neck and loop her arm around her waist to help him up. She was starting to change back already. Just as she got him up, Isaac felt something zipping through the air. He tried to pull Lyla to the side but his movements were sluggish from the pain.

An arrow struck Lyla in the back. With a grunt, she fell to the ground, taking Isaac with her. He rolled to avoid landing on his still-bleeding belly. He looked over. She was still but for a slight twitching and she was facing away from him. Isaac knew the arrow had to have come from the north-east edge of the field. He saw them approaching from all sides. Slowly, what did they have to rush for, Isaac and Lyla weren't going anywhere. When they were all about 3 feet away from them, Isaac saw who came from the northeast section of the field.

That wolf stood over Lyla and smiled, then looked at Isaac.

"I knew you would lead us to her," he said as he stepped over Lyla to come stand over Isaac. He held and handful of Isaac's shirt and pulled him about a foot of the ground. Isaac would never forget the smug satisfaction he saw on Peter Hale's face before his fist knocked him unconscious.


	4. Chapter 4

Derek had been checking his phone every second or so since last night. Isaac had said he was going to tell Lyla their decision but Derek hadn't heard a peep from him since. Derek needed to know how Lyla had responded to the refusal. To make sure she or her pack weren't going to retaliate at his pack or the people of Beacon Hills, of course. He sighed. The sad part was he kind of hoped she made a fuss so he would have an excuse to see her again. How pathetic. And selfish. Not behaviour worthy of an Alpha at all.

The leaves on the ground crunched as he walked through the woods. The sunlight streamed between the trees like water slipping through holes in limestone. Derek kept his head bowed as he walked. That tended to happen when he was deep in thought. He was on his way to the high school to find Isaac but the beta was the farthest thing from his mind. He knew she didn't care about them, he knew that. His brain knew it but something else kept that little beam of thought that she had been all he thought she was alive. He kept pushing that thought away. That was her freakish influence working on him and nothing else.

Derek's wolf instincts made his twist to one side and shift a millisecond before the other wolf barrelled into him and slashed his back. Had he not turned away, it would have been his neck. Derek spun back around, kicking the other wolf squarely in the head. The wolf's head snapped around and he stumbled away from Derek but before the few droplets of his blood hit the spongy forest floor, he was rushing Derek again. Derek aimed a fist at his head but the other wolf caught it in his own fist and twisted Derek's arm, flipping Derek over onto his back. Derek rippled his legs to propel himself back onto his feet but as his midsection rose, the other wolf slammed his elbow into it and sent Derek back down. The other wolf held Derek by the throat and slammed his head into a tree twice. Then he dug his claws into the skin just above Derek's groin. Derek roared in pain. The other wolf raised Derek against the tree using his claws. By the time he could hear the other wolf's voice over the sound of blood in his ears, he had reverted to human form.

"Where?" the other wolf asked, his face and voice unnervingly calm for someone who had just kicked Derek's ass.

The other wolf was lean of body and tall. He wore a cotton, long-sleeved, black shirt and jeans, with black converse sneakers. Curly, black hair fell to his ears and over cold, grey, penetrating eyes. Derek had no idea who this person was or why they had attacked him. He would have told them a few choice words to that effect if he could breathe to speak. The other wolf seemed to realise then too that he was still choking Derek and loosened his grip on his throat.

"Again, I ask, where?" he breathed.

"Where is what?" Derek managed to choke out.

The other wolf rolled his eyes, then said, "Don't play dumb. I know you have her. Tell me where she is now and I'll kill you quickly."

There was only one "her" who could inspire this much rage over her disappearance.

"I don't know where she is."

"You're lying."

"Look, the last time I saw her was the day before yesterday. I don't know where she went."

"YOU'RE LYING!" the wolf shouted at him, his eyes flashing red. His tranquil demeanor had vanished for a second, only to restore itself just as fast.

That momentary display of emotion clicked things into place for Derek and the wheels in his mind began to turn.

"I know who you are," Derek said smoothly, "You're the Alpha, _her _Alpha. I know what she is to you and I know that you would do anything to get her back. Knowing what I know, I would have to be pretty stupid to harm her. I never even wanted to-"

"I know what you wanted." The other wolf's eyes, so lifeless up until now, glinted with a sick kind of amusement. "You wanted to fuck her. You wanted to bend her over, spread that ass, and fuck her with your deficient dog dick until she begged for mercy. You think I don't know you Alphas want what's rightfully mine?"

Derek didn't reply. He didn't know if it was because it was the smart thing to do or because the other wolf was right. It seemed that it really was the right thing to do. The other wolf released Derek's throat and retracted his claws. Derek dropped to the ground with a grunt. The other wolf stepped back and looked down at him.

"Someone hurt her," he said, "Badly enough that I felt it. You obviously fell under her spell so it wasn't you but maybe you know who it was…"

Derek shook his head fiercely, "No, no."

"Ok," the other wolf said, and straightened up. "Then you should have no problem helping me find her. It'll be your way of apologising for almost fucking my girlfriend. " He turned to walk away. "Name's Nick by the way."

_Memories raced through her unconscious mind like shooting stars. Good ones. Bad ones. She remembered how happy she and Nick had been before he had even told her he was a werewolf. Even after he confessed his secret, she stayed with him, thinking it was cool, she could never love him any less. Then the other packs came, and the hunters, and he had had to take on more responsibility. He became so much more angry, but in a cold, calculating way she couldn't abide. She thought it was best to give him some space, she thought not having to deal with a relationship on top of everything else for a while would be good for him. He thought she was trying to get away from him for good. He had been so understanding when they talked. He waited or her in her bedroom that night in total darkness. As soon as she shut the door, he didn't even let her turn the lights on. The 'click' of the door was accompanied by a searing pain just above her right hip. Her legs gave out from the pain. She heard a snarl and tried to get up to move but then rough hands with sharp claws grabbed her and pushed her into what could only have been her open closet . In such a cramped space and in such pain, she couldn't gain the upper hand. Her shoulder, her thigh, her belly just below her breasts, within minutes they were all bitten and bleeding. By the time the wolf stopped biting her, she was completely still. She couldn't move for the pain. The wolf, now transformed back into Dominic, sat next to her, gathered her in his arms and stroked her hair._

"_The pain will pass," he said soothingly, "You'll heal and then you'll be like me…and we can be together…for always."_

Lyla and Isaac hung from a ceiling by rope tied around their wrists. Their erstwhile prison was huge and made of grey steel. It's flat floor was interrupted every few metres by colossal pillars made of the same grey steel that came up through the floor and went into the ceiling. The prisoners hung facing a wall completely taken up a revolving fan behind vertical iron bars. Sunlight beamed in between the fan's oscillations, keeping the room constantly filled with flashing light.

Isaac was conscious but still hurt. They had injected him with something before and he wasn't healing as quickly as he should have been. Whatever they had given Lyla must have been twice the dosage because she had been out for hours with no sign of consciousness at all. He had tried yelling at her to wake up but nothing. The arrow she had been shot with had been laced with a concentrated form of wolfsbane. He had smelled it when they took it out of her.

Isaac had been about to slip back into uconsciousness when he heard someone come in behind him. He couldn't turn around to look but wasn't surprised when Peter Hale came to stand in front of him.

"Hope you're enjoying our hospitality-"

"What do you want?

"Tsk, tsk. Is that any way to treat me after I _didn't _kill you? And trust, Deucalion would not have stopped me."

"Why didn't you kill me then?"

Peter looked from Isaac to Lyla's unconscious form, then walked to stand in front of her. Isaac didn't like how he was studying her.

"I'm not sure what to do with you yet to be honest. If your body had been found, Derek would probably have done something stupid to 'avenge' you and you might yet be useful to me alive. How, I don't know yet."

"Why did you take her? Why does Deucalion want her and why are you helping him?"

Peter laughed. "Isaac, by now you should have realised I don't help anyone unless it also helps me. I told Deucalion what she can do and, smart man he is, he knows how much she could help his various nefarious causes. However, he doesn't know that a very pissed, very powerful Alpha, and his pack most likely, are going to come looking for her. They will fight tooth and nail and maybe rid us of Deucalion."

"…You're _using _another pack to kill Deucalion? What, do you have beef with them or something?"

"No. But we're not strong enough and this pack might be."

"You're starting a war because they _MIGHT BE_ able to kill Deucalion's pack?!"

As Isaac struggled to comprehend the madness that was Peter, Peter pushed Lyla's shirt up into a crumpled bunch that sat at her collarbone. He looked at her breasts, almost spilling haphazardly from her bra, he looked at her smooth belly. He rested a hand on her hip, walked around her and stopped, seemingly very interested in something on her back. Isaac twisted his neck around until it hurt, trying to see what Peter saw.

Lyla's back had been slashed from her left shoulder to her right hip. Four jagged scars marked the injury. It was obvious they were completely healed but the scars carried a redness along with their dark brown colour usually indicating infection. Isaac knew that only wounds inflicted by an Alpha healed at a human rate. How could her Alpha let someone do that to her?

Peter touched the scars, each with a finger of his left hand and closed his eyes. The scars began to hum against his fingertips. He smiled. The presence was there. The connection was intact. The hand on Lyla's hip moved up to the waistband of her pants and then inside them.

As Peter moved his hand, he said to Isaac, "Do you know that lifemates had a telepathic connection? In the old days, they could talk to each other even thousands of miles apart. Barring actual 'mindspeak', if you will, one would always know when the other was either in pain, dying, or forsaking the bond. That was said to be more of a primal, warning-bells like kind of communication, not at all voluntary. One would know whether the other wanted them to or not."

Isaac refused to look at the psycho. He didn't want to think about what Peter's disgusting hand was doing down Lyla's crotch.

_In the black space off unconsciousness, Lyla saw the faces of the people she's most recently met: cute Scott, sweet Isaac, adorable Stiles and…sexy Derek. But the face she was looking for, she couldn't see. For the first time in years, she couldn't see him behind her eyes. Where was he? She wanted him. She needed him now. She screamed his name to the empty space, screamed intil she started to cry. Something was wrong, very wrong but she couldn't leave the black void. She whispered his name once more, "Dominic."_

_The eerie quiet of the void was filled with a raging roar that came from all around her all at once. The howl of a wolf. It grew louder and louder and pushed her back, further and further until she fell. The blackness disappeared and she fell through a blazing heat. _

Lyla's eyes snapped open.


	5. Chapter 5

Derek and Scott tore through the woods behind Nick, barely keeping him in view. They got scratched by low-hanging branches and nearly tripped over rocks because of how recklessly fast they had to run. Derek and Nick had gone to the high school to get Scott so they could brainstorm over this Lyla-and-Isaac-missing situation. They had been walking through the woods when all of a sudden, Nick had gone quiet and stopped dead in his tracks.

His gaze levelled on the empty space before him, he clutched at the skin over his chest and swayed. He hung his head and began to shift. Scott stepped in front of him and asked,

"Dude…are you alright?"

Nick had snapped his head back up and snarled at Scott, his fangs only centimetres from Scott's face, then turned around and raced through the woods. Derek was sure that Nick knew where he was going so had shifted and followed him, with Scott bringing up the rear.

Nick was tearing along like a bat out of hell. Whatever he was running to, Derek was sure they wouldn't like when he arrived.

Lyla and Isaac were still tied to and hanging from the ceiling. Lyla's head was hanging but Isaac knew she was awake now. The fan kept the room cool but Lyla was sweating profusely. Her top was still bunched around her neck. Her eyes were closed and had been for the last 10 minutes since Peter left. Isaac didn't what to say or even if he should speak at all.

Lyla felt so disgusted at that man she had to close her eyes to calm herself so she wouldn't hurl. When she woke up, she had felt his fingers moving inside her, slowly, almost menacingly. She had been so disoriented. Even now, she wasn't sure what was going on. The last thing she remembered was a piercing pain erupting in her back. Then she had woken up in this strange room hanging next to Isaac.

"What happened?" Lyla coughed out.

Isaac glanced at her and said, "Peter sold you out to Deucalion so that your pack will come and kill them to save you. I was just collateral damage."

"Well, that explains why we're here." Part of Lyla wanted to ask Isaac why Peter had been finger-raping her but, apart from the utter humiliation of it, she didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable. "Time to leave."

Lyla twisted to the side, spun back, then twisted again. She did this until she had spun around enough to face Isaac. She then kicked her legs out and wrapped them as securely around his waist as she could. Isaac looked at her like "What the hell are you doing?"

"Stay as still as you possibly can," she said.

She tightened her knees around him and shimmied her legs up him, an inch at a time. After what seemed like forever, and many painful groans from Isaac, her feet ended up just under his bound fists. In her V-like position, her abs were killing her but she ignored it. She tapped into her wolf side just a little and let her claws out on her hands and feet. With the last of her strength, she stuck her foot up and rubbed the sharp end of the claw on her foot against the rope above Isaac's head.

Lyla had only managed to cut through ¾ of one of the two ropes before her muscles gave out and she fell back down. She threw her head back and screamed in frustration. How could they get out of here.

Isaac was a little more hopeful. He kicked his legs back and forth to put stress on the almost cut rope, soon enough it snapped. The knot around his wrists loosened and he pulled an arm loose. It felt so good to relax his arm, it had been started to go numb. After letting some blood flow back into it, he let out the claws on that hand and swiped at the remaining rope. His claw went through in one and he dropped onto the cold floor.

Lyla broke into happy giggles. As happy as she was that he was free, he really did look funny. He got up and untied her bonds. She fell onto him. He wrapped his arms around her to break her fall. She smiled at him gratefully and their eyes met. That feeling of utter calm and security that Isaac usually felt with her came flooding back and his face broke into a dumb grin. He didn't want to let go of her now or ever.

"Not now sweetie," Lyla said, and pinched him. He groaned and released her, apparently coming back to himself. "We have to get out of here. Like yesterday."

Nick had finally stopped running outside an abandoned factory on the south end of Beacon Hills. The stillness around the property was interrupted only by Nick's growling. Even though he had stopped running, he had not shifted back and still seemed agitated. Taking in the broken glass windows and the bent doors hanging on to their hinges just barely, Derek thought this place wasn't menacing, like most abandoned properties, more pathetic.

He was just about to tell the guys they needed a plan, they didn't know what was in there and they couldn't just barge in, when the steel door right in front of them began to creak and open. Derek automatically readied himself for attack and was surprised to see his uncle run out. Peter was bloody and breathing hard. His shirt was ripped almost clean off and Derek could see the claw marks underneath.

He came, panting, to them, doubled over and said, "Deucalion…pack…inside…Isaac…Lyla…"

That was all it took. By the time he said, "Lyla" Nick was sprinting inside, followed by Scott. Derek ran after them, yelling at them to stop and think about what they were doing. Peter all at once recovered from his "ordeal" and straightened up, pulled the remains of his shirt off and smiled.

Lyla and Isaac held hands and raced through dark hallways and down stairwells. Which doors weren't rusted shut, opened to rooms so dusty and full of rotting construction materials that they couldn't have crossed them anyway. When Isaac pulled open the door to an empty room the size of a parking lot, Lyla almost cried for joy. She could hear street noises for the first time. The building had been eerily quiet.

There was a door in each of the room's four walls. There were many windows in the wall right in front of them, some broken, with the glass on the floors under them and some secured with rusty locks. It was through these that Lyla heard sounds from outside, and saw the sun for the first time in hours. She ran to one and just stood in the sun's rays for a while, letting the light touch every part of her. It was then that she realised they weren't on the first floor; the door in this wall would open into thin air. Strange place to put a door, she thought.

Isaac interrupted her thoughts, "Left or right?"

She looked back at him.

"Which door? Left or right?"

Lyla really didn't know which to choose and she didn't want them to split up…wait a minute.

"Isaac…" she said tentatively, "The door wasn't locked."

He looked at her like she was stating the obvious and replied slowly, as if talking to a child, "Yes…that's how we came into the room."

"No," she persisted, "the room we were tied up in. It wasn't locked. You don't tie someone up and then not lock the door, unless-"

"-You want them to get out," the recognition coming through Isaac's voice as he spoke.

Lyla tore back across, the room, fully intending to grab Isaac and just run, run where she didn't know, but they had to run, that she knew.

Just then, Nick, Derek and Scott ran into the room from the left door. Derek and Scott stopped when they saw Lyla and Isaac in the middle of the room. Nick however ran right into Lyla, shoved her down and pinned her to the ground by her neck. He raised his other claw high above his head. If he brought in down in a blow, Lyla would die instantly.

Isaac made to intervene but Lyla held up her palm to him. _No. _Nick howled in rage. Lyla could feel the anger coming off of him, but she could also feel pain. This was her mate, she hurt when he hurt and she could only heal when he did. If he had to hurt her again to do it, that was ok. That was what they did it seemed, hurt each other, grow apart but maybe now they could get back. Get back to what she could barely remember but she had hope that there was something. She looked into his wolfy, dark, fuming eyes and willed him to remember.

Seconds passed. A solitary tear formed in his right eye and fell onto her cheek. By the time it rolled onto the floor beneath her, Nick had changed back into human form. He wordlessly pulled her into his arms and hugged her like he hadn't seen her in years. Maybe he hadn't. Really _seen _her in years. But he did now. And he didn't want to stop looking.

Isaac, less caught up in the moment than they were, noticed Peter step out of the shadows behind Derek and made to rush him when Derek stopped him.

"What are you doing?" he yelled at him, "Have you lost your mind?"

"No!" Isaac shouted back, "He's lost his. He sold Lyla out to Deucalion. He's trying to use her pack to-"

Just then, two members of Deucalion's pack stepped up to stand on either side of Peter, both holding scary-looking rifles. Derek could smell wolfsbane coming from the barrels.

"Actually," he said smoothly, "I brought you all here so that Deucalion could dispose of all of you at the same time." At his words, more pack members came through the door in the right wall and the one Isaac and Lyla had come through, all holding identical rifles and aiming at them.

Nick and Lyla barely had time to get to their feet before they opened fire.


	6. Chapter 6

Lyla hadn't known that death occurred in such slow motion. As she fell, she saw perfect blue sky and fluffy clouds. She saw cars with people in them on the roads going about their normal lives. She saw the cement rushing at her and knew she was going to die. She saw the faces of her friends before her eyes. Delisa. Zoe. Jonathan. Asha. Shanice. She would never be able to tell them goodbye. She saw her new friends falling alongside her; Isaac and Scott looked terrified but Derek, defiant to the last, had a wilful anger on his face. She looked at her incorrigible Nick for one last time. She squeezed her eyes shut and prepared for the end.

The cement felt softer than she thought, and was definitely more talkative.

"DAMN, YOU'RE HEAVY, BITCH!"

Lyla opened one eye tentatively. Lying under her in a muddle of arms and legs were two friends from her pack grimacing in pain. She turned and looked to one side to see Nick being hauled to his feet by his brothers. Her confusion turned to near hysterical mirth as she realised she had seen Jonathan and Asha's faces not because she was near death but because they had been on the ground to catch her. She had hit them and they had all rolled away from the building in a confused lycan bundle. She had been so afraid of the pain of impact and then the unknown of death…now she was lying among her friends as if they had just playfully tumbled out of a tree. She uneasily regained her feet. Hitting Jon and Shanice had still been hard on the old joints. She hugged them both and whispered a rude retort to Shanice's comment in her ear. She looked around. Her entire pack was there, in the courtyard. They had come to back up their Alpha and Mater.

She was brought back to the present by the angry howls on the other end of the courtyard. Her gaze fell upon Isaac, Derek and Scott, each barely being held down by two fully shifted wolves from her pack. Nick interceded just in time to stop them from getting their throats ripped out and explained that they were no threat. The averted violence reminded her that they were on the territory of a hostile pack bearing wolfsbane bullets. The thought made her turn and look up at the floor they had just leapt from. She couldn't hear gunshots anymore but the bright gleam of red irises looking through the ill-placed door did not escape her.

She didn't bother to think about whether Deucalion's pack would risk attacking all 30-something of them. For the first time, she actively reached for that thing inside her, the thing that Nick had put there, that made her the Mother of this pack, and responsible for all these people she deeply cared about. She touched it and her claws came out, she dove deeper into it and her body shifted completely to wolf form. She looked right at the evil eyes watching them from the building and let loose a roaring howl. Into it, she poured all of her anger at what they had done to her and Isaac, her happiness that they had failed at killing them and a promise that this was not the end. She also included a message for her own pack: "Shift and run. Now."

In seconds, everyone in the courtyard had shifted and fled.

"Peter followed me to the field at school and caught us both there. I guess he knew she was gonna come see me. We were tied up for hours. Lyla was shot with something and she was out for most of the time."

Derek, Isaac, Scott, Nick and his pack were in the woods. There was really nowhere else for all of them to go just yet. Last Derek had seen Nick, he was talking to his pack members, probably filling them in on the madness that was Beacon Hills, but he hadn't seen him in a while. Lyla either. Isaac was in the middle of telling Derek exactly what had happened to him and Lyla. None of them were any worse for wear despite their ordeal. They were so engrossed in the conversation, they didn't notice the wolf leaning on the other side of the tree they were next to.

"We didn't see anyone there but Peter. He came in and was telling us how he had told Deucalion about what Lyla can do so he would take her, anger her Alpha and make him and her pack come after Deucalion's and take them out of the equation for us-"

"Wait, what? If that was really his angle, why wouldn't he tell us, or at least me?"

"That was what he _said _but I…well, let me just say, Peter's not immune to Lyla's 'charms'."

Isaac had dropped his gaze to the ground and had started shuffling uncomfortably. From the sudden change in demeanor, Derek could guess that something had happened that had perturbed Isaac. He took him by the shoulder and squeezed reassuringly.

"What happened?"

Isaac shook his head and still wouldn't look him in the face. "I can't tell you, man."

"You have to. Every little bit of information could help us."

"Not this-"

"Isaac."

He finally stopped shuffling. He stuffed his hands into his pants pockets and looked past Derek into space. "He…touched her. I think he was trying to get Nick there because of their bond or whatever."

Derek raised an eyebrow. "He touched her. So what? What's the big-"

Just then, Derek remembered how Nick had suddenly freaked out and turned into a crazy, wolfy killer who had somehow known the way to where Deucalion had Isaac and Lyla. He had known before that she was captured and had been somewhat calm, but then _something _had tipped him over the edge.

Now it was Derek's turn to look at the ground and shuffle. "He was touching something he shouldn't have, wasn't he?"

Isaac nodded, turned and walked off. Derek clenched his fists. He could feel himself starting to shift. His uncle had gone behind his back. He had captured Isaac and Lyla. He had almost gotten all of them killed. Now he had crossed a line with a girl that should have been _his_ alone.

On the other side of the tree, Nick was thinking the exact same thoughts.

**-PETER. WE NEED TO MEET. JUST US. NO DEUCALION. NO DEREK.**

**-MEET YOU AND WALK INTO AN AMBUSH. NO THANKS.**

**-I'VE HAD TIME TO THINK AND I'M BEGINNING TO SEE THINGS YOUR WAY, PETER**

**-LIES.**

**-JUST MEET ME ON THE FIELD AT BEACON HILLS HIGH TONIGHT. I'LL BE ALONE. YOU KNOW I HAVE THE SUPPORT OF THE STRONGER PACK. I HAVE THE ADVANTAGE. IT WOULD BE IN YOUR INTEREST TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO TALK**

**-FINE.**

Peter Hale stood in the centre of the field at Beacon Hills High. He looked around. He was completely alone, but then again, he was early. Peter was no fool. Deucalion and his pack of Alphas were in the woods, hiding in the shadows. Peter knew better than to believe that anyone who had a 30-strong pack of werewolves would come to a meeting alone.

A rush of wind from behind him announced that he was no longer alone. Peter didn't turn around.

"I was surprised to hear from you. Especially since last time we saw each other I was trying to kill you," he said evenly.

"Oh, I didn't take that personally. We had something you wanted. Just business, right?"

"So why would someone with the self-confessed advantage want to talk, hmm?"

"We have numbers but you have weapons. You also have more Alphas on your side. You could take out ten wolves before we even got close enough to scratch you. I won't take that chance with my pack. I'm here to offer you what you want."

Peter chuckled and finally turned around. "You talk sense but I still don't believe you. Even if you were serious, Derek and your own pack wouldn't let you do that."

Lyla flashed her amber eyes and took a step toward him. They were almost touching now. She looked right into those soulless brown eyes of him and said softly, "Nobody _"lets_" me do anything. I do what I want."

She could hear noises in the woods but kept going. She could tell he was barely holding onto his resistance. If she could just hold on a little more, he would fall under her spell, he had to. She moved forward and pushed her body up against his. The bile rose in her throat but she focused on the task and hand and refused to let her disgust get the better of her. She rested on hand on his chest and stroked his cheek with the other.

"…and what I _want _is you. You're forceful, a strategizer, you go after what you want. My powers, your intelligence, the weapons…we would be unstoppable. I knew as soon as I entered the loft that day that _you _were the better Alpha, not Nick and definitely not Derek. I tried to ignore it but when you caressed me like that…I knew my place was with you."

Lyla was pouring everything she had into what she was saying. The scuffle noises from the woods were getting louder, howls were tearing through the night air and she didn't know what was going on but she had to keep Peter fixed on her. He was holding her to him by her hips and he was definitely interested but still sceptical she sensed. Lyla steeled herself and joined her lips to his.

The night air was brisk and cold but Peter had never felt so warm in his life. They were in the middle of a sports field but he felt calm and protected. He had her now. Everything would be all right. Everything _was _all right. He held her tighter. He was about to deepen the kiss when five stabbing pains erupted around the base of his spine.

He would have fallen immediately but Lyla's embrace kept him upright. That is, until a sudden force knocked her from his arms. The blow to his spine had rendered him paralysed. As he fell, he angrily thought, 'Who is trying to take her from me?' As his knees hit the ground, someone stepped in front of him, a wolf by the growls Peter heard above him. Peter raised his head, shifting even though he couldn't really move. His red irises burned and his fangs lengthened menacingly just before Derek ripped his throat out.

"You better stay dead this time," Derek said, panting.

Lyla was three feet away from them, on the ground in Nick's arms. It was he who had disabled Peter's spine, then pulled her away. They looked away from Peter's bleeding corpse towards the woods, where members of their pack were making their way onto the field, accompanied by Isaac and Scott. Everyone was bloody and a few were limping but everyone was alive. Lyla thank God for that. She looked back at Nick.

"How did you know?" she asked.

Nick raised n eyebrow. "We had 30 well-trained wolves outside a building compared to the 3 or 4 inside and you told us all to run. I knew you were afraid and I know you would do anything to protect us."

He touched his forehead to hers and looked in to her eyes. "I also know what he did to get me there. It was just a matter of following your scent and positioning the pack in the woods. We had them outnumbered like 10 to 1, babe. I do have to thank you though, for getting them all in one place." Nick laughed.

Lyla slapped his chest and got to her feet. Nick followed suit. Derek was staring at Peter's lifeless body. Lyla shook her head at Nick, gesturing for him to go see to the pack. After four initial refusals, he finally went on his way, looking back suspiciously every two feet.

Lyla went next to Derek and cleared her throat. He stirred and looked at her.

"Don't do that," he said.

"Do what?"

"Look at me like you're concerned, like you care. Like you wanna make it all better."

"But what if that's how I feel? I do care about you, Derek-"

"But you're gonna go with him. You're gonna leave."

"You don't understand-"

"No, I do. That's the problem. I know you have to be with him, but that doesn't stop me from wanting you for myself. I know you have to go but I still want to keep you here, keep you with me. That's not gonna change, no matter how much we talk about it or anything else."

Derek dropped his gaze back to his uncle's lifeless form. "Just go."

Lyla made to put her arms around him one last time. He grabbed her wrists and held them out between them. He looked at her. As a tear ran down her cheek, she saw some in his eyes that he refused to let fall.

"If I hold you now," he said, forcibly keeping his voice even, "I will never let you go."

The moment seemed to stand still. The wind swirled around them. The voices of the other people on the field faded to nothing. They just stood there, looking at each other, neither willing to move first.

Then Nick called for her, his voice searing through the little bubble they had unknowingly been enveloped in. Derek released her hands and she slowly stepped away from him. He watched as she walked away from him, to Nick, and took his hand. He turned his back on them then. He didn't watch them walk away, he didn't watch the pack melt into the woods.

He only looked up again when Scott and Isaac pulled up on either side of him. He levelled his gaze straight in front of him.

"Let's go," he said. And the three of them left the field together.

**-FIN-**


End file.
